FUTURE FABRICS EXPO 9½ – SEMINAR SERIES
The Future Fabrics Expo 9½ provided a platform for twelve panel discussions uniting forty voices from brands, suppliers, thought leaders, innovators and educators around how the fashion and textile industries are responding to the most pressing challenges of our times, spotlighting innovations, inspirational industry examples and highlighting how we can all play a critical role in creating and driving positive change.
Discussions during this Expo drew together experts around the core themes of CLIMATE, our relationship with NATURE and BIODIVERSITY, and the place of INNOVATIONS and REGENERATIVE systems that can drive the fashion industry to a POSITIVE future. Panel talks framed the role of the fashion industry as an agent for change and its powerful potential to mobilise the creativity and solutions thinking that is at the core of true circular and regenerative design thinking.
PARLEY founder and CEO Cyrill Gutsch outlined in his opening address that we urgently need to address our dependency on oil, and the plastic pollution created from this ‘design failure’, focusing on decoupling from it as a raw material and energy source if we are to tackle climate change. All toxic materials and practices need to go, and we need to rapidly repair natural systems and restore biodiversity in order to rebalance the carbon cycle and tackle this crisis. We are now poised on the brink of a new materials revolution that recognises and prioritises the health of the planet and all living things, whilst actioning the cleaning up of our toxic industrial legacy…
CLIMATE
The Role of Fashion in Action for Climate Transformation
journalist Bel Jacobs emphatically established the critical imperative for change, interrogating the fashion and textiles industries’ responsibility to tackle climate change. With just ten years left to address biodiversity loss, land use and impacts of the climate crisis, scaling up of concrete climate action demands deep systems shifts.
Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, co-president of the Club of Rome, called for urgent action- we have already gone beyond several of the planetary boundaries delineated by the work of scientists at The Stockholm Resilience Centre. She noted that fashion sets the cultural tone, and links to the citizen consumer as vehicles for change too. We need to shift to circular and regenerative models and decouple from our extractive impacts on resources. Claire Bergkamp, COO of NGO Textile Exchange also established the need to decouple from growth and observed that the textile value chain represents a huge part of the impacts because it is reliant on agricultural systems. She explained that there is also opportunity for carbon sequestration and repair, but we need to be careful to focus upon what works now: emphasizing that ‘on the ground farm innovation are the things we know that work such as on site composting and replacement of synthetic feritlisers’. Textile Exchange have announced Climate Plus initiative and will be the driving force for urgent climate action with a goal of 45% reduced CO2 emissions from textile fibre and material production by 2030. The 2030 Strategy for Climate Plus is the result of extensive stakeholder engagement through interviews and an online surveys conducted with a mix of Textile Exchange members and non-members from organizations representing brands, retailers, suppliers, manufacturers, nonprofits and professional services across the globe. The initiative will priortise climate action, the PLUS is to show that in addition to climate, focus is also on biodiversity, soil, water and the need for partnerships with on the ground farmers.
Claire Bergkamp emphasized that: ‘For stakeholders in the industry we are at a critical moment, but for practical advice companies can buy certified materials as a great place to start. She advised joining a textile Exchange roundtable- which are open to everyone and support industry to work with best practice materials. Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu from UNFCCC Fashion Industry Charter for Climate action, launched in 2018 spoke about COP26 Race to Zero in November, and how we need to think holistically, as the next ten years will determine the fate of humanity. ‘Despite some recent momentum there is still serious work to be done; in order to achieve net zero by 2050 steep actions need to be undertaken. She observed that the worrying thing here is pace- we know that solutions exist, but the pace and rate of scaling up is too slow and that ‘efficiency cannot outrun scale.’ Sandrine emphasized that we ‘need to get real around capital shifts- such as peverse subsidies’. Textile supply chains and positive raw materials systems must be accelerated and radically transformed at scale and all actors from farmers to brands need to come together to leverage change. Bel observed that the power of fashion as a communicator is significant, and the investment in fashion advertising that could be reframed to create positive messages; Lindita posed the question what can we do to communicate to consumers what a 1.5 degree lifestyle looks like? Sandrine expressed a call to action; we need to be stubborn but realistic optimists; ‘we are facing a planetary emergency, and if we don’t make radical systems shifts we will continue to experience constant shocks, so we need to put in place risk management and resilience building levers’.
Clare Carroll from WRAP and Martin Brambley, founder of non-woven textile company Dopplehaus joined Sophie Wilson from the Race to Zero initiative to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, who outlined the fashion industry alignment process toward COP26 to discuss How Reviving Regional Supply Chains can Enable Low Impact Fashion Systems of the Future. The Dopplehaus wool fibre story provided a captivating case study in understanding how fibre choice and local networks are key to addressing CO2 emissions from provenance, processing and post life impacts. Claire outlined WRAP’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan Textiles 2030 is the UK’s most ambitious voluntary agreement, with 70 fashion brands on board committed to reducing the environmental impact of textiles, with two main goals; to reduce aggregate GHG’s footprint on new products by 50%, and to reduce the aggregate water footprint of new products by 30%.
The Fashion Designers as Change Makers conversation addressed the culture of fashion as a powerful tool for change and communication of new fashion values. Fashion Revolution co- founder Orsola de Castro referenced the parallels between food and fashion and our relationship with natural resources. Stylist Fran Burns noted that driving change can come from informed conversations with designers and sees ‘the role of the stylist is an opportunity to have fresh eyes in the room’ and that to ‘bring knowledge is power, and we all have a responsibility to encourage less production and by doing things that are less impactful’.
NATURE-POSITIVE MATERIALS AND REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Nature-Positive Materials: Best practice with Wildlife at the Core drew upon the on the ground experience of Julie Stein from the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, who observed that most brands cannot trace back materials to the individual farm, and without this we cannot solve the biodiversity crisis; ‘the conversion of land to pasture and crops is the biggest driver of wildlife habitat loss’. She emphasized that farms should not be monocultures, by creating a haven for a variety of species habitat patches are stepping stones for wildlife across a farm, with no physical barriers such as fences to prevent mobility of wildlife, and allowing the functional role of predators that supports ecosystem health. She cited examples of best practice wildlife management in Argentina and noted that regenerative agricultural systems mimic the natural movement of all wildlife. Head of nature initiatives at Kering Group Dr Helen Crowley stated that ‘you cannot get to nature-positive unless you take into consideration wildlife.’
Discussions for The Imperative for Regeneratively Grown Materials panel explored the designers’ perspective and responsibility to act. Sheila Cooke of the Savory Institute’s hub 3LM, which supports regenerative farming and cited Fibreshed author Rebecca Burgess: ‘your clothing choices are an agricultural act – by purchasing and wearing you are voting for the agriculture you want to see in the world – you are either feeding soil microbiology and furthering nature, or leaving a world of plastic pollution’. Sheila Cooke outlined that regenerative farming demands holistic thinking around the healthy interaction of diverse life forms – for example: don’t plough (no till system) in order to allow complex underground systems to do their work, and grow cover crops, allow a diverse range of crops and bring animals back to the land in managed grazing systems to regenerate the soil. Regenerative farming expert Sara Grady from the Grady + Robinson collaboration supplies finished bovine and sheep leather that can be traced to its UK farm origins with assured agricultural practices, followed by vegtable tanning in the UK. Farms that raise animals to the highest standards for food restores our ecosystems. British accessories designer Anya Hindmarch outlined her journey toward sustainable thinking following the responsibility she felt in 2007 to begin a project to encourage the decoupling from single use plastic. Her curiosity regarding materials opened her eyes and led to a struggle to find recycled leather that wasn’t held together with plastic binders. She highlighted the lack of transparent supply chains with respect to animals, land and people and observed how disconnected leather production is from farming, and how most hides are a by-product of industrial agriculture: ‘no one talks about the provenance of the skins, unlike in the food industry’. She highlighted the problem of most alternatives to leathers which are mainly based on unsustainable and polluting synthetics.
Exploring the collaboration for H&M between natural high-performance textiles Bananatex and British footwear brand Good News provided the case study for exploring how we can replace plastics in the industry in Can Plants Power the Future of Footwear? Christian Layolle from Mills Fabrica in conversation with Hannes Schoenegger CEO of Bananatex and Swiss Accessories brand Qwstion, drew on the footwear industry experiences of Alan Lugo from plastic free US company Natural Fibre Welding in how collaborations are leveraging change. NFW innovations include fully bio leather alternative MIRUM, and Bananatex’s raw material comes from the plant Abacá, grown in a natural ecosystem of sustainable mixed agriculture and agroforestry, and CLARUS altered cotton yarn (also applicable to other fibres) at the molecular level to strengthen it. The synergies between both companies became apparent regarding their 360 degree circular design thinking, and how deep knowledge of materiality is critical in enabling products to close their own loops and return safely to the biosphere.
The Regenerative Future of Dyes drew together five innovators and practitioners in a curated symposium led by Carole Collet from CSM Maison/0. Founder of the Dyers Circle Jackie Andrews-Udall set the scene with the historic context and story of natural dyes as part of a sustainable fashion strategy, linking colour with a sense of place. Most of our modern dyes are made from highly toxic synthetic petrochemicals and occupy a significant role in regard to pollution impacts and water use. The place of regenerative systems for the future of colour was exemplified by varied innovations such as Colorifix, a non- petrochemical process that takes a synthetic biology approach identifying DNA sequences via microrganisms to create specific colours. Carbon negative innovations derived from bacterial algae, in this case the waste product from growing spirulina Scott Fulbright from Living Ink explained how they are changing the way products are made by using algae for Algae Ink™ as colourant products which have a negative carbon footprint, are safe, bio based, resistant to UV light. Nikhil Kaushik from Graviky Labs explained how their technology captures carbon emissions and upcycle this air pollution into sustainable inks, paints, coatings etc, using mainly dry technologies to create AIR-INK®.
An innovative cellulose based refracted ‘colour’ for sequins using no colourants or metal coatings responds to fashion’s hunger for all that glitters, providing a captivating sustainable solution. Traditional sequins are made from non- renewable and non biodegradeable materials, and Oxfam research recently highlighted that in the UK around 30 million sequin garments are purchased during one festive season, most which usually end up in landfill. By observing the structural function of refracted light on beetles and butterfly wings Elissa Brunato, founder of design led material innovation start up Radiant Matter employs biomimicry to rethink the nature of our most vibrant and glittering materials.
The Plastic and Fashion panel linked our dependency upon non-renewable oil based materials, which are essentially created from plastic to the products we all wear. Sian Sutherland from A Plastic Planet established the environmental and health risks in her introduction. Around two thirds of global fibre demand is taken up by oil based synthetics, which are non biodegradeable and shed harmful microfibres. Maria Westerbros founder of A Plastic Soup Foundation which puts pressure on industry and governments, focused on emphasizing that microplastics that proliferate through all our products, citing scientific studies that conclude by breathing in and ingesting these materials is making humans sick. Dr Luke Haverals founder of US based Natural Fibre Welding create complex composite materials from ‘plants not plastic’ stating that ‘the carbon footprint of plastic is massive and doesn’t just go away by recycling’. Nicholas Rochat from the brand Mover Plastic Free Sportswear told an inspirational story of how he disrupted the outdoor product category material expectations by entirely removing synthetics from the brands product offer.
Ten years ago Greenpeace started the Detox fashion campaign and shone a spotlight on the chemical impacts upon the environment and human health, pushing fashion brands for commitments to detox their supply chains of hazardous chemicals. The panel discussion on Tackling toxicity in Materials explored the industry’s addiction to synthetic materials, dyestuffs and finishings. Around 8000 chemicals are used in the growth and processing of our textile fibres, and it is important to understand that even ‘safe’ chemicals can have toxic properties, but it does depend on what you do with them and how you are manging them. Frank Michel from ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) is co author of Detoxing the Fashion Industry for Dummies, written to help demystify the use of chemicals in the fashion industry, and increase understanding. He explained how the ZDHC Gateway provides an open datebase and information source, also provides wastewater guidelines and verification of suppliers efforts to eliminate hazardous chemicals. The ZDHC organisation also coordinate a digital Impact Day that has world wide reach. The RSL (restricted substances list) is dominated by substances that are regulated and the RSL is tested for only at the final product stage. The MRSL (material restricted substances list) is the backbone of the work at ZDHC on textiles and leather and focuses on chemical use throughout the material processes.
Ananas Anam are the creators of the vegan pinapple agricultural waste non-woven leather alternative material Pinatex. Dr Raquel Prado Garcia, head of research and sustainability at the company outlined the challenges of creating coatings for Pinatex that provide the longevity and performance that the market demands for commercial viability, and also meet the company’s goals toward best sustainable practice from provenance and processing of the material. She explained that transferring lab based bio-explorations do not transfer easily to production methods; ‘we need to be able to work with industrial systems to develop the surface coatings of the non- woven, and adapting the manufacturing processes is also an area for innovation that takes time.’ The company have a road map for consistent improvements in impacts; they currently use PU (polyurethane), but only use water based PU in order to avoid VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) emissions. Ananas Anam’s impacts are monitored and the company have reduced C02 impacts in 2 yrs by 40% and reduced the use of fossil fuels by 30%. The next frontier is the continued exploration of the entire material composition from renewable bio sources.
Mark Ix from Advance Denim has worked in the denim industry for over 30 years and observes that Indigo is a very difficult dye to get on to a fibre, which can incur significant water, energy and chemical use. Recently there has been a huge drive from all the denim producers to respond to the sustainability imperative, and the industry is active in innovations, particularly . Traditionally the market is extremely demanding regarding nuances of tactile appeal Advance Denim strives to be the most sustainable supplier, and Mark explained that ‘we look at the problems as opportunities; cleaner inputs and how do we do thei a cleaner and more efficient way.’ Advance Denim have introduced ‘Bio Blue’ a patented FDA approved process that was three and half years in development. Traditionally sodium hydrosulphite has been used in the dyeing process and is highly toxic and unstable, and we have removed this with no reduction in big box dyeing technology alone saves 41% energy, water 95% and 20% reduction in chemicals. The next step is exploring the opportunities for circularity in the post-consumer recycling of denim.
In Technologies Enabling Traceability and Transparency from Fibre to Fashion the pivotal role that pioneering new embedded fibre technologies play in assuring traceability was explained in detail. The 2020 CEO Agenda published by The Global Fashion Agenda outlined the first ‘core priority for immediate implementation’ is that of supply chain traceability. Many top fashion brands have announced targets for 100% sustainable fibres by 2025, but it is estimated that less than 5% of those brands are able to trace their textile inputs to verify the sustainability credentials of the fibre producers. Our textiles and fashion supply chains are criss-crossed around the world, and are long, fragmented and opaque, often concealing environmental and human rights abuses making traceability notoriously difficult. Embedding fibre tracers, married to blockchain technologies can track and verify fibres and also communicate information to consumers in the retail environment. Burcu Ozek Sales Manager at denim supplier Bossa International reports that ‘traceability has become a key issue driving innovation for us’, and recently collaborated with Shannon Mercer, CEO of Fibre Trace® to create the D-Chronicles project. The Fibretrace system uses patented particles embedded in the fibre that exist for the entire life of the product and are non toxic. They can be mixed into any natural or man-made fibre at the very start of the production process (often at the farm itself), with no impact on texture or performance. Simeon Nachev Head of Digital Value Chain Lenzing Group spoke about using the innovative technology of the TextileGenesis™ platform in a collaboration with ArmedAngels, verifying LENZING™ ECOVERO™ and Authentico® fibers. Both the Bossa and Lenzing collaborations allow the consumer to view the surprising revelations and authenticity of the product journey right from the provenance of the fibre.
INNOVATIONS
The Demystifying New Material Innovations discussion explored the new biomaterials landscape, which is currently on a rapid growth trajectory, and since 2015 has attracted around 1.29 billion USD worth of investment. New material categories, many of which have been in R&D for twenty years are now becoming commercially available, and are poised to change our raw material sources and processing impacts by addressing our very relationship with nature. In conversation with experts Suzanne Lee, founder of Biofabricate and Dr Amanda Parkes, Chief innovation officer of Pangaia, unpicked what we mean by ‘biofabricated’ materials and their potential for the creation of responsible products, with innovations in this field being driven by the need to find sustainable solutions to our most impactful material categories. Suzanne observed that there was one word; ‘biobased’- that both USDA and the EU and agree on this definition, (that may actually be less than 25% bio content) however there are many technologies that can produce a biomaterial. Some of these innovations are being described in the same category as complex biofabricated materials, and this is why it is important to understand the differences and help to unpick the impacts of inputs and outputs. Suzanne outlined potential to shift how we do things quite radically on challenges related to extractive practices and biodiversity. She outlined the bioassembled mycellium innovations as the ones poised to have the most immediate impact on the fashion industry and also highlighted the emerging PHA group of textile fibres, such as LanzaTech’s carbon recycling technology which works much like a brewery attached onto an emission source like a steel mill or a landfill site, but instead of using sugars and yeast to make beer, pollution is converted by bacteria to create chemicals.
Dr Amanda Parkes explained Pangaia’s role as a brand and materials science company offering new material possibilities working and designing with nature to form new material possibilities. Pangaia’s business model invests in or works on co-development, directing industry into a new space and empowering innovation at the early stage via collaborations to get things done more quickly to leverage change. She explained: ‘at Pangaia we don’t invent everything, we have many team members doing the due diligence on new innovations and we use materials as a tool for our business’. Amanda referred to their cutting edge insulative innovation FLWRDWN™, which was ten years in development as ‘high tech naturalism’ and uses no animal products, no synthetics, no petro-biopolymer and a cellulosic aerogel. Pangaia have permission to responsibly harvest wildflower down for FLWRDWN™ from a conservation loop that they are part of, helping to restore the habitat of key pollinators and the preservation of local biodiversity. She sees the next generation being focused on regenerative agriculture waste, explaining; ‘eventually we will own farms in order to sustain a whole new way of looking at the model of material innovation’.
Understanding ‘Bio’ Material Innovations A Primer for the Fashion Industry Biofabricate and Fashion for Good 2020
